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V. W'. WILSON. GAMB APPARATUS.

Patented July 23, 1889.

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GAME APPARATUS. Ne. 407,713. Patented July 23, 1889..

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

VINCENT W. VILSON, OF PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE R. BLISSMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,713, dated July 23,1889.

Application filed May 28, 1888. Serial No. 275,889. (No model.)

To all whom, it ntay concern.-

Be it known that I, VINCENT W lVILSON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State ofRhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in GameApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class ot toy games in which a ball iscaused to run down an inclined gu'ide or track and impinge againstnumbered pins or enter numbered pockets; and my invention consists inthe employment of a downwardly-inclined ball-guiding conduit formed byan open spiral-wire coil for the passage of the ball to the game boardor table, whereby, by the constantly-recurring rise and fall of the ballas it rolls from coil to coil of the wire conduit, the downward mot-ionof the ball can be retarded as desired, so that a. comparatively shortlength of the spiral-wire coil will suffice to retain the ball in viewof the players for a long time, thus greatly enhancing the pleasure ofthe game; and when the conduit is made of spring-wire the resonance ofthe coils, as the ball drops from one coil to the other, producesaringing sound, which constitutes a desirable improvement in such gameapparatus for amusing children.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a game apparatus provided withmy improved ball-guiding conduit formed by an opened spiral-wire coil.Fig. 2 represents a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 represents a verticalsection showing a modification in the manner of supporting theball-guiding conduit. Figs. 4 and 5 represent enlarged detail sectionsof the wire coil which forms the ballguiding conduit. p

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a game board or tableprovided with the upright sides a a a to retain the playing-ball thusindicating the number to be scored by the playerI upon the entrance ofthe ball B into either of the said pockets.

At the'end f of the board A is placed the upright cylindrical standardC, around the The board Ais provided with the fixed upperiphery of whichis coiled the open spiralwire coil D, which serves to form aguidingconduit for the ball B, the lower end of the wire coil D beingarranged to cause the ball B to impinge against the pin l), so as to bedeiiected therefrom into either of the pockets l, 3, or 5, as the casemay be.

The upper end of the wire coil D is turned inward, so as to communicatewith the entering recess E at the top of the standard C, so that whenthe ball B is placed in the said recess' it will travel thence downwardthrough the guiding-conduit to its discharging-point at the lower end ofthe coil.

A modification of my invention is shown in Fig. 3, in which theguiding-conduit is held by its support C in zigzag instead of spiralform, as shown in Fig. l, and in this case the wire'coil may be made topass through suitable perforations g, made in a board which forms thesaid support, and the ball B, when placed within the upper end h of theconduit, will roll slowly down through the same and be discharged at itslower end against the pin b, as before. The spiral-wire coil which formsthe conduit for the ball B can be turned in any desired direction andcan be supported in any suitable manner, so as to provide a properincline for the downward passage of the said ball, and on account of theopen winding of the wire coil, which forms the guiding-conduit, the ballcan be readilyseen and watched by the players during its Whole downwardpassage to the pint and the receiving-pockets.

The rising and falling movement of the ball in the descent through theguiding-conduit formed of the open spiral-wire coil is shown in Fig. Ll,in which it will be seen that the moving ballB at the space d will dropslightly between the adjoining coils c c', and then its forward momentumwill cause it to rise over the wire of the coil c', when it will dropinto the space d', to contact with the coil e, and then the momentum ofthe ball will carry it over the obstructing-coil c, to drop into thespace d, to contact with the succeeding coil, so that the center of theball will move downward in the dotted line @c cc, and any desired amountof retardation can be secured by properly opening the coils of theguiding-conduit. Thus the ball B, when rolling down through the moreopen coils of the guiding-conduit IOO Ina gaine apparatus, theoo1nbination,with the gaine board or table, of a ball and adownwardly-inclined conduit formed of a spiral- WireA ooil having itseonvolutions so separated from each other as to operate to retard themotion of the ball, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

VINCENT W. l/VILSON.

Witnesses:

SOCRATES SoHoLFIELD, CHRIS. E. CLARK.

